Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

3.   Penalty for discharge of oil into waters to which this Act applies

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   (1)   If any oil is discharged, or allowed to escape whether directly or indirectly, into any waters to which this Act applies from any vessel or from any place on land or from any apparatus used for the purpose of transferring oil from or to any vessel to or from any other vessel (whether a vessel to which this Act applies or not) or to or from any place, the owner or master of the vessel, from which the oil is discharged or allowed to escape, the occupier of the land, or the person having charge of the apparatus, as the case may be, commits an offence and shall, in respect of each such offence, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $480.

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   However, it is a good defence to proceedings for an offence under this section to prove—

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      (a)     if the proceedings are against the owner or master of the vessel that the escape of the oil was due to, or that it was necessary to discharge the oil by reason of, the vessel being in collision or the happening to the vessel of some damage or accident, and also, if the proceedings are in respect of an escape of oil, that all reasonable means were taken by the master to prevent the escape; and

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      (b)     if the proceedings are against any other person and are in respect of an escape of oil, that all reasonable means were taken by that person to prevent the escape.

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   (2)   It shall be lawful for the Port Manager to appoint a place at which the ballast water of vessels in which a cargo of petroleum spirit has been carried may be discharged, and where a place is so appointed any such ballast water may, despite anything in this section, be discharged at that place, but only at such times and subject to such conditions as the Port Manager may determine. (Amended by Act 7 of 1972)

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   However, the foregoing provision shall not apply to ballast water containing oil other than petroleum spirit.

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   For the purposes of this subsection, the expression “Petroleum spirit” means refined petroleum which is subject to rapid evaporation and which, when tested in the manner prescribed by the Petroleum Act or any enactment amending that Act, gives off an inflammable vapour at a temperature of less than 73 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.